SATSUKI KANEKO, Nikkei staff writer   TOKYO — Mainland China became the largest importer of Japanese food products for the first time last year, dethroning longtime leader Hong Kong.   Exports of food, farm, forestry and marine products to mainland China surged 35.2% to 222.4 billion yen ($1.93 billion) in 2021, official data released Friday shows. Japanese sake, whisky and….Read more

Tokyo, Feb. 2 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry, fishery and food products in 2021 totaled a record 1,238 billion yen, up some 25 pct from the previous year, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.     The figure far exceeded the government’s annual target of 1 trillion yen thanks chiefly to strong demand from the United States and China, where consumption continued….Read more

KEIKO MARUYAMA, Nikkei staff writer   TOKYO — Kubota has enlisted Tesla co-founder and engineer Ian Wright to develop farming robots controlled by artificial intelligence, with the partnership working initially on machines that grow wine grapes.   The Japanese manufacturer of agricultural machinery hopes Wright’s connections will attract personnel versed in AI and automated control technologies to a new U.S.….Read more

Japan’s exports of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products topped the government target of 1 trillion yen ($8.74 billion) for the first time last year.   Exports surged 26.8 percent to reach 1,077.9 billion yen during the first 11 months of 2021 compared with the same period of the previous year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.   Exports….Read more

KEN HOTAI, Nikkei staff writer   KOCHI, Japan — Starting in March, planes will ship high-value, hard-to-produce items from Japan to Singapore — not computer chips or auto parts, but melons.   A farm in western Japan plans to export muskmelons to Singapore and to grow grapes in Vietnam and Thailand as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps away the tourists who….Read more

Tokyo, Dec. 21 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government said Tuesday it will launch a new framework to allow the Japan External Trade Organization, or JETRO, and diplomatic offices abroad to work together to support exporters of agricultural and food products.   The government will introduce the new framework in key cities in eight countries and regions, such as the United States….Read more

All national dailies wrote that the GOJ announced on Thursday that the annual value of Japan’s food, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries exports exceeded 1 trillion yen ($8.7 billion) for the first time in 2021. Sharp increases in shipments of beef and Japanese sake to the United States and China in particular contributed to the growth, and the coronavirus pandemic led….Read more

TOKYO — The value of Japanese agriculture, forestry and seafood exports exceeded 1 trillion yen ($8.7 billion) for the first time this year, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday.   The export value between January and November totaled 1.06 trillion yen. Matsuno told a press conference that the figure was a “result of the combined efforts of government agencies….Read more

Saturday evening’s Nikkei and Mainichi wrote that the British government has commenced internal procedures to abolish restrictions on Japanese foods imports that have been in place since the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011. The UK food safety authorities have reportedly concluded that the risk to public health of removing the regulations would be “negligible.” The regulations are likely to be….Read more

KOKI KUBOTA and SHINICHI ARAKAWA, Nikkei staff writers   SAPPORO — When containers loaded with Nitori furniture arrive in Japan from Chinese factories, they often travel back empty.   But that will change this year when Nitori Holdings teams up with an agricultural association to sell Hokkaido-grown rice in China, where it is expected to cost as much as ten….Read more